₦airaland Forum

Nigeria's Chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, certainly one of the best Air Chiefs Africa has produced.

One last Goodbye to his beloved Air Force.

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NIGERIEN AIR FORCE CHIEF CONCLUDES TOUR OF NAF FORMATIONS, COMMENDS ATF FOR ITS OFFENSIVE OPERATIONS AGAINST TERRORISTS

The Chief of Air Staff (CAS), Nigerien Air Force, Colonel Amirou Abdulkader, has commended the Air Task Force (ATF) of Operation LAFIYA DOLE (OPLD), for the successes recorded so far, in its renewed offensive operations against Boko Haram Terrorists (BHTs) and Islamic State of West Africa Province (ISWAP) elements in the North East of the Country. The Nigerien CAS gave the commendation yesterday, 27 January 2021, while addressing personnel of the ATF during his visit to Nigerian Air Force (NAF) operational Units in Maiduguri to enhance collaboration in the conduct of air operations in support of the ongoing Counter-Insurgency (COIN) operations in the Lake Chad Basin area. Colonel Abdulkader, who earlier visited some NAF units in Kaduna, stated that he was pleased with the level of cooperation between the 2 air forces as well as the opportunities he had observed that could help further build capacity of the Nigerien Air Force.

While conveying the appreciation of the entire Nigerien Air Force family to the ATF for its relentless efforts in the fight against insurgency, the Nigerien CAS, who was received in Maiduguri by the NAF Chief of Training and Operations, Air Vice Marshal (AVM) James Gwani, noted that operations being conducted have been very fruitful in further destabilizing the BHTs’ new leadership and curtailing their freedom of action within the Theatre. He however urged the ATF to sustain the onslaught in order to ensure total defeat of the terrorists. He also appreciated personnel of the ATF for their sacrifices and dedication towards ensuring that there is relative peace in Nigeria and the entire Lake Chad Basin, while expressing readiness to further improve synergy between both forces.

The ATF Commander, Air Commodore Abubakar Abdulkadir, had earlier briefed the Nigerien CAS on the successes recorded so far in different operations conducted within the Theatre. He mentioned that the synergy between Nigeria and Niger Republic has been very effective towards the maintenance of peace and security in the Region.

In a related development, the Nigerien CAS had earlier visited some Units at the NAF Base Kaduna to assess areas of collaboration between the two air forces. The Units visited include 401 Flying Training School (401 FTS), Regiment Training Centre (RTC) and the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT). At 401 FTS, Colonel Amirou was briefed on the activities of the Unit which was followed by a tour of facilities of the School. While at the RTC, the Nigerien CAS was treated to a demonstration by the NAF Special Forces on their capabilities in fast roping, insertion and extraction, counterterrorism offensive and medical evacuation during fierce battle, amongst others. Colonel Abdulkader also visited the AFIT, where the Commandant, AVM Abdulganiyu Olabisi, along with other senior officers of the Institute, gave him detailed briefing on training opportunities for engineers and technicians, amongst other professions, whilst also conducting him on a tour of the Institute's facilities.

IBIKUNLE DARAMOLA
Air Vice Marshal
Director of Public Relations and Information
Nigerian Air Force
28 January 2021

Nigerian Air Force JF-17 Thunder

Nigerian made vehicles ARA & Ezugwu MRAP in the frontlines

Nigeria's new service chiefs met with the President

Whyem15:
DHQ hasn't been posting any updates on the offensive for a while now, they are dulling spirit oooo.

I think it's because of the change in leadership. That's why the new guys don't need to waste time, it seems as though there's currently a vacuum.

Rafale Fighter Jet

What a beauty!!

French & Malian Special forces operating in Mali

Nigerian Service take a final salute.

Godspeed to the new guys.

Incoming Aresa boats for the Nigerian navy

Whyem15:
Nonetheless, he should be pardoned, he is a brilliant officer that will be of great help to the war efforts.

I beg to differ.

Whyem15:
The piracy incident did not happen in Nigeria's waters. It happened off the coast of Gabon.

Be that as it may, GoG is Nigeria's operational area, those pirates were likely from Nigeria, Benin, Ghana or Equatorial Guinea.

Whyem15:
It is sad we have to see some brilliant officers go

Then I also hope Irabor and Attahiru will pardon Gen. Adeniyi.

The challenges faced by the new service chiefs while they were in the northeast is their best assets to Nigeria. They will be able to provide solutions to these challenges.

Even though Adeniyi meant well with his video, he should still be punished.

For the following reasons;

- He was the GOC 7 division, he needed to show leadership, he did not. That video was demoralizing, he was taking troops in battle, nobody needs a simp in a life and death situation.

- He recorded and distributed a video in an unsafe, very unprofessional manner.

- The video showed operational areas

- The video, a classified material leaked to the general public.

- It was PR coup for Boko-Haram, ISWAP and the rest of the terrorist bandwagon.

ugo4u:
Sadique Abubakar has written his name with a Golden ink. Unarguably the best Air Chief in Nigeria's history, the incoming CAS will be under alot of pressure to match his feat. I think he should have being appointed the CDS(He deserves it) but the power that be knows what's best.
Buratai also did well save for human rights records under his watch as for CNS, No comment.

Sadiq Abubakar is the best CAS we've had since the creation of Nigeria. The man totally reformed our Air Force, made it professional and modern.

In terms of PR, the Air Force cleaned up the image of the military in many ways than once. I wish they can keep him on as a consultant.

Burutai also tried his best to build a well armed army, he drove indigenous industrialization, and worked towards building a self sufficient army.

However in terms of training, troop rotation and generally professionalism of the force, he failed.

The incoming COAS should build on his legacy, also work hard on structuring a professional army, well equipped with proper training and with a sound PR structure.

The Navy Chief CNS IBAS also tried to build a well equipped navy. The Navy has continued a legacy of professionalism right from the GEJ era, but in PR they were lacking and only picked up late.

There were a number of high profile successes under him, including indigenization, fleet recapitalization, rescue of ships at sea, piracy went down but the recent kidnapping of 15 Turkish sailors off the coast of Nigeria and the high rate of insecurity in the Bonny waterways puts a dent on his achievements.


The CDS did not do well, up until recently, the army and air force had different separate wars each Chief of service was fighting. While the army was going right, the air force would be going left.

Poor coordination from the office of the CDS.

lebuhsi:
Babagana Monguno has to go as NSA though

Including the head of DSS.

Odunayaw:
I'm so happy seeing Irabor as CDS!

It's a ceremonial role, he should have been COAS.

Lurker4Long:
As a Nigerian and presumably a tax-payer are you happy that:
1) Bags of money are stuffed into a plane and flown away;
2) Customs officials in SA question all involved and detain plane and confiscate funds;
3) Detained persons claim to be on Nigerian govt business but some of them hold Israeli passports, can't produce any proof of any meetings with any arms company;
4) Nigerian officials confirm that the whole thing is highly irregular?

Does none of that bother you? Is it your contention that SA should have broken its own laws to spare the egos of some?

What circumstances led to this?

Did the Nigerian government willfully do this?

The fact is South-Africa stabbed Nigeria in the back, there are no two ways about it.

If I'm honest, I feel disappointed that Nigeria still buys arms from South-Africa.

Whyem15:
The government keeps making the mistake of thinking they can use force to solve every problem.

The people keep making the mistake of fighting government thinking they can ever defeat government. Last last the area will be destroyed and the people will mellow but the damages that would have been done will be irreparable.

.

This is the smartest thing I've read this year.

God bless you and your family effortlessly.

Nigerian soldiers targeting ISWAP elements

Whyem15:
Majority of the vehicles deployed are either light armored(phantom II) or old MRAPs/APC(Bigfoot/Spartans). Looking at the attacks from the Airforce too, they depend heavily on rockets and canons.
I feel the military is trying to cut cost as much as possible.

Well, I hope you're right.

Lurker4Long:
East Africa is proving to be a boon for Katmerciler. First Uganda and now Kenya.
I feel bad for the guys at OTT: their proposal won the technical evaluation, but lost on the financing of the deal. Between the SA government and the private banks, they really need to wake up and realise structuring finance deals for the defence industry is an imperative.

I feel like SA governments from Zuma to Ramaphosa don't think Defence spending is important, or most likely they consider SA defence industry to be a remnant of apartheid.

The location of South-Africa, the ending of high intensity American wars in Iraq & Afghanistan hasn't helped either.

Chinese defence exports have grown exponentially.

Smaller Nations like UAE, Turkey, are now spending more and more in their defence industries while growing influences in many areas of the developing world.

It's becoming increasingly difficult to compete, on the one hand I blame the government in RSA, on the other, the UAE is spending 23 billion dollars on defence, Turkey between 11 & 13 billion dollars, and quite a chunk go to local companies.

You also add the fact that both governments actively finance foreign sales, also pay top dollar to attract skilled manpower from abroad.

It's a tough road for South-Africa, it doesn't help that the Badger program is routinely delayed either.

I also feel like product advertising from SA is low.

The government needs to increase defence spending, assist in financing, SA companies also need to advertise more.

shadowprimezero:
Frankly, it's quite amazing how the Bigfoot seems to have outlived the Caimans, Maxxpros and the long extinct "almighty" REVA. Chinese hardware has really come a long way in quality control.

They've proven to be really reliable, real workhorse.

I'll say that I've been quite disappointed we've not seen Nigerian made vehicles in the thick of action so far.

Both the ARA & Ezugwu have been conspicuously missing.

I had hoped 2020 onwards would have been our year.

The Kenyan army announced that it will purchase 118 HIZIR armored personnel carriers from Katmerciler.

MNJTF Operation against Boko-Haram terrorists have begun

See below Chadian army vehicle

Nigerian army Big Foot MRAP behind

kabe1:
Slightly clearer photos of Seaward Defence Boat 3.

This is a really beautiful looking ship, big congratulations to the ship's designers.

The empty spaces by the side are hangars for the ship's rigid inflatable boats.

Stealthy design employed on this ship.

The boat gives us a good idea what a future Nigerian navy OPV or Corvette would look like.

It's also nice to see that Seaward Defence Boat 3 has stabilizer fins, this would allow the ship handle rough winds and strong seas.

Slightly clearer photos of Seaward Defence Boat 3.

This is a really beautiful looking ship, big congratulations to the ship's designers.

The empty spaces by the side are hangars for the ship's rigid inflatable boats.

Stealthy design employed on this ship.

The boat gives us a good idea what a future Nigerian navy OPV or Corvette would look like.

shadowprimezero:
Alright Oga. You win!

It's not a "you win" matter, correcting your ignorance on a subject is educational. Everyone here including myself are here to learn.

shadowprimezero:
re they today?

It's obvious you hate the country, but their advances are undeniable. These are the sort countries the Nigerian defence sector should partner with.

Only people living in their own self-delusions believe Turkey has an "indigenous" defence industry.

shadowprimezero:
Good God in heaven. We had literally this exact conversation a couple of months ago.

When Canada stopped selling optics for the Bayraktar, it literally took Turkey just a few weeks to replace it with CATS from Aselsan, along with a host of other systems. The system on the new Akinci assault drone and Aksungur have significantly increased usage of local content over the Bayraktar.

Additionally, almost NO defence platform in NATO itself has components that are 100% indeginous to the country of origin. It's an ecosystem Oga, it's now that difficult to understand.

People have been laughing at Turkish defence industries for more than fifteen years now over these flimsy excuses: hell, lots of countries swore Turkey could never possess a working drone program after the sale of the Predator drone was scuttled, but where are they today?

It's obvious you hate the country, but their advances are undeniable. These are the sort countries the Nigerian defence sector should partner with.

Hate is a strong word, how can I hate Turkey, I want Nigeria's defence industry to be modeled in line with the Turkish defence industry.

I just find that you blow Turkish military capabilities out of proportion. You're like a living hype-man for Turkey.

The evidence suggests that what you claim as a Turkish indigenous Defence industry does not exist. I have also cited SIPRI as a source.

Iran has a more indigenous defence industry than Turkey, it's similar to saying the UAE has an indigenous defence industry when we all know that a huge proportion of their manpower and tech are imported.

The Altay tank, which is the world's most expensive Tank at 13 million dollars a unit is a K-2 Black panther from South-Korea.

Same as The T-129 which is a Mangusta from Italy.

Turkish "indigenous" 155mm artillery is also South-Korean.

The TB2 is completely foreign, I have previously shared infographics of the TB2.

The Aselpod is heavily dependent on foreign parts.

These continuous claims that Turkey has an indigenous defence industry are absurd.

You have no clue what an Indigenous defence industry entails, making wild comments like Turkish Defence Industry is ahead of everyone in NATO apart from the US shows you're blinded by flashy pictures and you're quite literally stuck in your own self-imposed kuvukiland.

shadowprimezero:
Off

Turkish defence industries seems to be the only NATO power after the US, pushing the boundaries of defense technologies from unmanned systems, aerospace, land systems and naval platforms. It's quickly outpacing the rest of Europe

South-Africa has a more independent defence industry than Turkey.